Friday, March 23, 2012

Scotts Miracle-Gro Knowingly Sold Poisoned Birdseed For Two Years

The birdseed was laced with pesticides to prevent insects from eating it during storage. The pesticides are known toxins to birds (and fish and other wildlife), a fact made known to Scotts' managers by 2 of its employees. Scotts went ahead with it anyway:

Scotts Miracle-Gro – The Bird-killing Company?, The Guardian, 21 March

The EPA investigated and:

"The Scotts Miracle-Gro company entered guilty pleas to all charges in U.S. District Court and these guilty pleas were accepted by Judge James Graham on Tuesday, 13 March 2012."

Scotts said they stopped selling the birdseed in 2008, but there's still some out there:

"[Scotts] sold more than 73 million packages of these poisoned bird foods nationwide to an unsuspecting public for a period of more than two years. Only 2 million of those 73 million units could be recalled."

With unfortunate effects:

"[A] San Diego county couple who lost nearly all of their domestic aviary birds at the end of January 2010 after feeding Scotts Miracle-Gro Morning Song Wild Bird Seed that they had recently purchased from a local Wal-Mart. Out of a flock numbering nearly 100 birds, only eight survived."

Just to make a buck:

"Even if a penalty of $73 million -- merely $1 for each poisoned bird food item sold -- was levied against the company, Scotts Miracle-Gro will probably still earn a profit from sales of all their illegal products."

People say we should do away with the EPA. Scotts only admitted what they were doing, and stopped what they were doing, because of the EPA's investigation.

That's an interesting line of thought. It would explain why I found higher levels of pesticide residues in grain products like bread and bagels than in lettuce. Even levels in mustard were higher than lettuce and tomatoes. I guess residues in seeds and grains concentrate when you process them. I forget the post, I'll look for it. I wondered how they kept the bugs out of the piles of grain.

The Environmental Working Group talks a lot about the dirty dozen, but that's just produce. What's going on with grain products ... bread, corn meal, oats, barley ... beer?

"Even if a penalty of $73 million -- merely $1 for each poisoned bird food item sold -- was levied against the company, Scotts Miracle-Gro will probably still earn a profit from sales of all their illegal products."

I'm hoping the public backlash fine will shrink their profits considerably!

There's pesticides in organic bread? Why am I not surprised. people should care more about the regular food most of us eat instead of saying eat organic all the time. Organic is a fools paradise, for those who can afford it!

I don't think organic is a fool's paradise--Bix's other post on pesticides in grains, etc., makes it clear that organic foods, while not necessarily more full of nutrients, are at least less full of pesticides and other poisons. And places like Trader Joe's make organics actually affordable. Ditto the Giant (supermarket).

Good article from Mercola. I've read all of it before, down to the immune disturbances from GE corn. That new bit about the kidney cells is interesting. I'm going to look that up.

What gets me is that the FDA says GMOs are not different from non-GMOs. They claim "bioengineering does not make a food inherently different from conventionally produced food."

FDA: "We are not aware of any information that foods developed through genetic engineering differ as a class in quality, safety, or any other attribute from foods developed through conventional means. That's why there has been no requirement to add a special label saying that they are bioengineered." - FDA Consumer, "Are Bioengineered Foods Safe?", January-February 2000.